Report | Argyle 2-2 Watford

Last minute heroics from Andre Gray stung Watford, as Argyle drew 2-2 with the Hornets at Home Park on Friday night.

The Greens forward curled in an equaliser in front of the rowdy Babcock Devonport End with one of the final kicks of the game, securing an important point under the lights at the Theatre of Greens.

The majority of the goalscoring was done in the first half, with Watford leading through Vakoun Bayo early on. Although former Hornet Gray scored midway through the period, Ryan Porteous put Watford in a half-time lead, that they would retain until the 95th minute.

The headline in the Argyle line-up was the inclusion of Lewis Gibson for the first time in a month, the centre-back returning after missing the previous four games.

Gibson featured on the left of a back three, with Julio Pleguezuelo and Kornel Szucs alongside him. The shift in shape meant Matty Sorinola and Bali Mumba featured as wing-backs, with Adam Randell and Darko Gyabi in central midfield. Morgan Whittaker then played as a central link-man behind Gray and Michael Obafemi.

Argyle had barely seen a sniff of the ball before Watford opened the scoring in the ninth minute. The goal itself had a bit of fortune about it, even if the scoreline was wholly deserved at that early stage.

Giorgi Chakvetadze worked the ball left to Yasser Larouci, whose inviting ball across the centre found the run of Bayo. Reaching out his right leg, on the stretch, Bayo essentially played the ball backwards, into his own body, and his forward momentum took the ball over the line.

Such was the strangeness of the goal, it took several seconds for the Watford fans in the away end, some 130 yards away, to appreciate that the ball had gone in. When the penny dropped, they exploded, the whole feeling like a long-distance phone call from a bygone era.

It was like it had taken the goal to raise Argyle from a slumber. The Greens rallied, and saw more of the ball in advanced areas almost immediately. From one press down the right, Sorinola sent in a beautiful low cross which Andre Grey was begging to turn home, only to see a defender reach it in time.

At the other end, Bayo sprung the offside trap on Watford’s left, and set off for the bye-line. His low cross was dangerous, and took more than one diversion on the way through, fortunately enough for Argyle falling ultimately to a player in green, who smuggled clear.

The equalising goal, although still slightly against the run of play, was an absolute doozy, in so many ways.

It started, one should note, with Argyle patience. More than once, the ball travelled along Argyle's new three-man backline, with visits to goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw. Eventually, when the time felt right, Pleguezuelo played to his left, where Gibson had the space, and now the license, to step forward.

Gibson’s diagonal pass over the defence was sublime, as was Gray’s subtle run to steer away from yellow-shirted markers. His finish, though, was better still. Watching the dropping ball onto his right foot, Gray volleyed, first time, with sufficient power to beat Daniel Bachmann, but with enough finesse to steer perfectly past the Watford goalkeeper and into the bottom corner.

Within a couple of minutes, Whittaker nearly raised the bar – and with it, the roof. His shot was just wide but, having received the ball from Mumba, and hit the ball very early, he caught the ball beautifully true, only to see it fly centimetres wide of the post.

Tails up, Argyle pressed on, with Obafemi striking not far wide with his left foot, from the edge of the area, before Watford had another great chance, this time from a corner not cleared. After various players diverted the ball a square or two in the centre, Porteous swung a leg, probably expected the net to bulge, but seeing the ball skim wide.

It was not tricky to see why Watford came into the game third in the list of the Sky Bet Championship’s highest goalscorers, but sixth in the list of those who have conceded the most. The game was open in the extreme, and the Hornets exploited this with a free-kick that got beyond Argyle and took the visitors into the half-time break in front.

The free-kick award was a little contentious – was Pleguezuelo’s ‘tackle from behind’ automatically a foul, or did he simply read Kwadwo Baah’s attempted turn? – but the routine after the take was a good one. Starting centrally, Watford clipped to where Mattie Pollock had run behind all green shirts, and the defender did his fellow centre-back a good turn by playing the ball across the six-yard box, to where Porteous was waiting to shovel home.

Even before the interval arrived, Argyle felt they had a claim for a penalty, when Obafemi went over in the area under close marking by James Morris. In truth, there was enough plausible deniability that it was simply that – close marking – but it was a fine line.

Only a minute of the second half had elapsed before Gyabi whistled one not far over Bachmann’s bar, and shortly afterwards a neat move down the right saw a Gray cross cut out with two Argyle players poised had it reached them.

On 57 minutes, the lively Chakvetadze was released into the left channel on a swift Watford counter, but his decision to cut onto his right foot cost him, as enough Greens recovered to block the effort. Within seconds, though, the ball was back with Chakvetadze, who slithered past two challenges and struck from distance, making Grimshaw push the ball over the bar.

Watford, protecting a lead, and having lost seven of their nine away games this season, naturally tried to slow the game and sat back a little, looking to use pace on the counter as a weapon. Moments after Argyle’s best move of the match, where swift one-touch passing nearly cut a swathe through Watford and was only picked off at the last second before substitute Callum Wright could receive, Grimshaw was called into action to prevent Bayo from giving the Hornets space to spread their wings.

Wright went close again, dancing into the area and shooting beyond the grasp of Bachmann, but seeing the ball go wide. Argyle Head Coach Wayne Rooney had just introduced Mustapha Bundu for Obafemi up front and Freddie Issaka for Sorinola at wing-back, in a bid to freshen the approach, and in the dying stages of the game it paid off.

The ball moved right to left and fell to the feet of Gray just inside the box, where the Jamaica international precisely placed a curling effort into the top corner of the goal, leaving the away section of the Kawasaki Barn Park End in silence.

Argyle: 31 Daniel Grimshaw, 2 Bali Mumba, 5 Julio Pleguezuelo, 6 Kornel Szucs, 10 Morgan Whittaker (11 Callum Wright, 68), 14 Michael Obafemi (15 Mustapha Bundu, 79), 17 Lewis Gibson (capt), 18 Darko Gyabi, 19 Andre Gray, 20 Adam Randell, 28 Rami Al Hajj, 29 Matty Sorinola (35 Freddie Issaka, 79). Substitutes: 25 Marko Marosi (gk), 3 Nathanael Ogbeta, 4 Jordan Houghton, 27 Adam Forshaw, 28 Rami Al Hajj, 44 Victor Palsson.

Goals: Gray 23, 90+5

Booked: Mumba 1, Gibson 54

Watford: 1 Daniel Bachmann, 5 Ryan Porteous, 6 Mattie Pollock, 8 Giorgi Chakvetadze (39 Edo Kayembe, 74), 10 Imran Louza, 17 Moussa Sissoko (capt), 19 Vakoun Bayo, 22 James Morris (3 Francisco Sierralta, 90+3), 34 Kwadwo Baah (7 Tom Ince, 90+3), 37 Yasser Larouci (12 Ken Sema, 85), 45 Ryan Andrews. Substitutes: 23 Jonathan Bond (gk), 11 Rocco Vata, 15 Antonio Tikvic, 20 Mamadou Doumbia, 52 Leo Ramirez- Espain.

Goals: Bayo 9, Porteous 41

Booked: Porteous 88

Referee: Andy Davies

Attendance: 16,400 (1,180 away)